Devils Roses 01 - Cursed

finished. “It was right here.” I didn’t want to walk back in there. Shane put an arm around me, as Williams walked very carefully into the brush. He stopped when he reached the spot.
    Bindley came down the yard. “Corporal, you need anything?”
    “ Yup, I need some lights and some pictures.” His voice was solid and steady and I wondered how he did it. I was sickened, just guessing what had happened. He was going to have to pick it all apart, until he got a story from all the gory details.
    When Bindley and a few other police officers came down, Williams looked at Shane and I. “Okay you two, we are going to need some statements. You know how this works. Shane take her home and we will meet at her house in twenty minutes.”
    “ Sounds good.”
    Home did sound good; retelling the disgusting story, however, did not.
    It was worse than I imagined it would be.
    My dad rubbed my shoulders while my sister sat on the couch staring at me horrified, as I told every moment of the party. I left nothing out, including whom I had seen there. Counting Aleks, who was wanted for questioning. I had disputed his involvement in her attack, as he had been with me while someone was obviously attacking her.
    Corporal and Shane had both agreed, he could have been an accomplice. I disagreed and asked if he had been an accomplice, why would he have brought me right to the scene of the crime? To which they both agreed that he did it to clear his name.
    It did seem off that he had been at both places when the drugging happened. It seemed even more off, that I had been the only person who had seen him. It was even weirder that he had lied to me about saving my life. I remembered that—I was positive. I assumed it was because he didn’t want me to know, he had seen me naked.
    I went to bed that night, after taking the longest shower in recorded history. I threw the red dress out, feeling no remorse for its untimely death. My head whirled around and around, playing the same pictures and ‘what ifs’, until finally I fell asleep.
    I woke, feeling more tired than I had been when I fell asleep. I looked at the time and cringed. I had been asked to come down to the police station to look at some pictures of criminals at eleven, which it was six minutes to. I jumped out of bed feeling woozy, as if I would black out. I sat back on my bed, as the stars from my eyes cleared and I nearly got sick all over my floor. I took a few deep breaths and got up slowly to get dressed.
    My dad got a worried look on his face when he saw me coming down the stairs. “You look funny, kiddo. You tired still?”
    I nodded yawning. “Yeah, I am exhausted. What time did I go to bed?”
    He looked at the clock. “Twelve hours ago. This must be draining you, all this craziness. You ready to go? Shane just pulled up.”
    I looked out the window at his truck and nodded. I struggled with the walk over to my shoes. “Yeah. I don’t want to do this. I know Aleks isn’t a bad guy. I have better instincts than that.”
    My dad smiled; it was weak, and not even close to convincing. “You are a smart girl, but I think some of the darker elements in our world can fool, even the wisest of us all. When you get home it's bed for a couple days, okay?”
    I nodded. I wanted to go back to bed right then.
    He passed me a banana as I walked out the door. I hadn’t been eating again, and I could feel the weight falling off of me, after only a few days. The stress was bad for my health. I hated being so scrawny. I pulled my long locks into a loose braid and struggled down the front steps.
    Shane got out and opened the door for me. “You look beat, Aimes. After this is over, I think you need some serious rest. The big dance is on Friday.”
    I scowled, not realizing so much time had passed since the whole poisoning thing. “I think they should cancel it. What with everything that’s going on, don’t you?”
    He shook his head. “No, normal is what we need right now. They just need to make sure the security is upped.”
    We didn’t speak on the ride over, I was annoyed and feeling sour. I flipped down the sun visor to look in the mirror on the back of it. I did look awful, huge bags under my eyes, and puffy eyelids. My lips even looked a bit swollen. I didn’t need help in the puffy-lip department.
    I glanced at Shane. I didn’t know what to do about my feelings for him. I didn’t know what they were anymore. I was too tired to care.
    We went inside the first door